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The next-gen Radio / Radio2.0 is like Google Reader – waiting for the Universal Music Feed Reader

August 3rd, 2007

It just occurred to me that I see the Future of Radio every single day, already, and it’s called Google Reader. I add new feeds to my Reader every day, I share my feeds and opml files with others, I freely export and import, I browse online, I browse offline –I am now in complete control of my news and I pay with my attention; not with Cash (but guess what… I think I would even do that, too!)

Replace text feeds with music and you have a preferred Future for Radio. Imagine being able to add a radio program to your selection of feeds, and it would be available online or offline (and yes – in the car, too!) Imaging every radio station having an output feed, every listener having a music feed reader, 200 clever feedburner-like apps serving a Billion people.

You could bookmark what you like, tag it, star it, as you see fit. Select from any content provider, or have them select for you, or have others share your selections. Select from any grades of narrowcasting to any shade of broadcasting. Aggregate it in a reader that works on any platform: mobile, phone, TV, Digital Radio, the Computer… or your music-wristwatch or your MP3 sunglasses.

I think Google has been sued over their ‘use’ of news feeds in the Google Reader. Google has been sued over Google Print. Google has been sued over Youtube. Google always gets sued, and whenever they do you can bet that they are on the way to forming the future! Someone out there will launch TheUniversalMusicFeedReader (TUMFR) and free music from the slavery of the COPY PARADIGM. Right?

The content owners? Just like with Google Reader, a refusal to participate is futile. All content is already being made available by millions networked computers, and any refusal to ‘not-permit’ just leads to a re-routing-around-the-damage — the network always heals itself. It’s time to realize that the surest way to have your brand diminished is to not participate! You would not only lose your audience (since you are forcing them to come to your sites as well as to The Univeral Reader) you are also forced to police how much of your content ends up on TUMFR anyway – but using AJAX and other web2.0 tools anyone could pull the content directly onto their machines without having to even be touched by TUMFR, therefore leaving you zero recourse. Participate or be left by the side of the road.